ABSTRACT
Objective To assess the value of shear-wave elastography (SWE) of the liver and spleen for predicting the risk of esophageal-gastric varices (EGV) and the bleeding from EGV (EGVB) in patients with advanced schistosomiasis. Methods The medical records of 90 patients with definitive diagnosis of advanced schistosomiasis in Wuxi People’s Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University from January 2017 through January 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. The severity of EGV was graded in the 90 patients with advanced schistosomiasis using gastroscopic findings as a golden standard. Then, the subjects were assigned to the non-EGV and EGV groups, and the low- and high-risk EGVB groups according to the grading. The SWE elastic moduli of the liver and spleen were measured and compared between groups. In addition, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted, and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was estimated to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of the SWE elastic moduli of the liver and spleen for predicting the high risk of EGV and EGVB. Results The 90 patients with advanced schistosomiasis included 61 men and 29 women, and had a mean age of (74.3 ± 8.6) years (range, 62 to 83 years). If gastroscopic findings were employed as a golden standard, there were 32 cases with grade 0 (35.5%), 17 cases with grade 1 (18.9%), 15 cases with grade 2 (16.7%) and 26 cases with grade 3 EGV (28.9%). There were 32 cases in the non-EGV group (35.6%) and 58 cases in the EGV group (64.4%), and 41 cases in the high-risk EGV group (45.6%) and 49 cases in the low-risk EGV group (54.4%), respectively. The SWE elastic moduli of the liver and spleen were both significantly greater in the EGV group than in the non-EGV group (t = 5.73 and 7.26, both P values < 0.05). The SWE elastic moduli of the liver and spleen had AUCs of 0.70 and 0.75, optimal cut-off of 16.1 kPa and 22.6 kPa, sensitivities of 80.6% and 83.9% and specificities of 71.4% and 78.6% for the prediction of EGV, respectively. In addition, the SWE elastic moduli of the liver and spleen were significantly greater in the high-risk EGVB groups than in the low-risk EGVB group (t = 7.35 and 9.61, both P values < 0.05), and the SWE elastic moduli of the liver and spleen had AUCs of 0.68 and 0.71, optimal cut-off of 22.7 kPa and 33.8 kPa, sensitivities of 70.4% and 73.6% and specificities of 89.3% and 93.1% for the prediction of high-risk EGV, respectively. Conclusions SWE is useful to predict the risk of EGV and EGVB in patients with advanced schistosomiasis.